Our Knowledge and Performance Objectives

To become familiar with important literary texts of the nineteenth
century

To understand the role of literary, legal, religious, scientific and
political discourses in shaping the understanding of nineteenth century
literature

To read closely the primary texts, to discuss them and write response
papers, in order to develop critical reading and analytical
skills

To use a series of graduated writing assignments to sharpen rhetorical
and argumentative skills and learn how to incorporate textual
evidence

To complete a term paper in order to learn to perform basic,
supporting research that contextualizes a work of writing or an idea
expressed in writing within a larger discourse of the period

Why the Nineteenth Century?

This will be an upper-division course on the “long nineteenth
century.” Our nineteenth century will start in the eighteenth and end in the
twentieth. What kind of a nineteenth century is that?

This course will assume that

literature changes over time and changes gradually (not suddenly at
the end of a century), and

literature changes because it is in close communication with the world
in which it is created: as this world changes, so does the writing in
it.

But does the world change the writing or does the writing
change the world? The nineteenth century presents some of the greatest
examples of writing that changed the world and reflected its enormous
changes. To understand how this happened, we will look at the writing
created between two dramatic historical bookends to the nineteenth century:
the French (Bourgeois) Revolution (1789) and the Russian (Bolshevik)
Revolution (1917). Why were there TWO revolutions so close to the nineteenth
century? Revolution sounds like serious business. Who would ever dare to
start one (let alone two)? Revolutions demand radical change. Where do the
revolutionaries get the idea of the new society they demand? What if their
vision is not to everyone’s liking? Once it starts, when is a revolution
over? What does literature have to do with any of this?

We will read, think and write about how texts and societies
interact and what nineteenth-century literature and other texts can tell us
about the social and political imagination of the period. We will also begin
to learn how to read critical texts about literature written by literary
scholars and historians.

Required Texts:

The reading list for this course is fairly serious. Some of
the readings are long and demanding, as is appropriate for an upper-level
college course for English majors.

There are several books available through
the John Jay Bookstore. You may buy your books elsewhere, or read electronic
editions of the text.

These books are required:

Sigmund Freud, Civilization and its
Discontents

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

Helen Maria Williams, Letters Written in
France

Recommended: Marge Piercy, City of
Darkness, City of Light. This book is a fictionalized
account of the French Revolution. Piercy treats historical persons who
played important parts in the Revolution as literary characters. The
book makes it easier to imagine how the Revolution unfolded and how
ordinary people decided to participate in such an extraordinary
event.

In addition to the books, there will be a number of readings
available on Blackboard. These readings are marked (BB) on the reading
schedule.

You must have your reading in class, either in
paper or electronic copy. You need the reading in order to discuss it.
Those who don’t have the reading will be counted absent.

Terminology of Literary Analysis

The work envisioned for this semester assumes that each
student in this class has successfully completed Literature
260. Everyone in this class is presumed to be familiar with the basic
concepts and terminology of literary analysis. If you are unsure
that you have all the terms covered, you should have a book that covers
these. Here’s an example of such a book:

A good, unabridged dictionary, e.g., the American
Heritage Dictionary or Merriam-Webster’s
Collegiate Dictionary. The latter has a good website at www.merriam-webster.com. The Oxford English
Dictionary is available online through the John Jay library.

A riting handbook, e.g., John Jay’s Rhetoric,
Research, and Strategies, which you can purchase at the
Bookstore; equally acceptable is Diana Hacker’s Writer’s Reference or any other handbook you may have
acquired for your composition classes.

A notebook/note-taking habit and that you take notes on your reading.
Bring your notes to every class as you can expect to use them for
in-class writing exercises almost every period.

Class Policies:

Attention and focus: This is an upper-division
class. It requires a lot of work and a lot of attention. You should only
stay in the class if you are willing to commit to doing the work. The amount
and complexity of reading will challenge everyone and the only way to keep
the work under control is to do it regularly. Outside of class,
you will read and take notes. In class, you will bring your homework,
participate in discussion.

Texting, playing games, Facebooking etc. are all signs
that you are not engaged in class work. If I see you using your phone in
class, you will have to leave and I will count you absent.

Attendance is mandatory and will constitute a
part of your grade. You are allowed four absences. If you miss four classes,
you will lose 10% of the total grade (A will become B, B will become C,
etc.) Save your allowed absences for emergencies. Anyone with four or more
absences will not pass the course.

Academic integrity I am assuming that you know
that plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty are unacceptable. Any
plagiarized assignment will receive an automatic F and the student who
submitted it will be reported to the Academic Integrity Officer.

Assignments

There will be three kinds of assignments: reading, weekly
writing and essays.

Reading must be done by the date it appears on
the syllabus.

Each class meeting students will submit a short
essay on Blackboard, responding to the reading and suggesting topics for
discussion. I will randomly call on students to give us a brief presentation
of their reading and their response.

Grading:

Paper 1: 5%

Paper 2: 15%

Final Paper: 30%

In this course, everybody has to do all the work all the
time. There is no extra-credit work you can do to make up for the
work you miss during the semester.

Students with Disabilities:

If you have a disability that has not been accommodated by the
class setup, please talk to me privately, immediately after the first class
meeting.

Course Schedule

Aug 29 Introductions: Literature of the Nineteenth Century;
Literature and the Revolution; Literature OF the Revolution?

Sep 3 Read Williams, Introduction to The Long
Revolution; Piercy, Author’s Note to City of
Darkness, City of Light (BB)

Sep 5 No class!

Sep 10 Read Rousseau, from A Discourse on
Inequality and The Social Contract
(BB)

Sep 12 Read Thomas Paine, “An Essay for the Use of New
Republicans,” “Reasons for Preserving the Life of Louis Capet;” excerpts
from The Rights of Man and Common
Sense; William Godwin, excerpts from Political
Justice (BB)

Sep 17 Read Helen Maria Williams, Letters
Written in France

Sep 19 Read Helen Maria Williams, Letters
Written in France

Sep 24 Read Edmund Burke, from Reflections on
the Revolution in France (BB)